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Subaru
Think. Feel. Drive. Advanced Driving Technology It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru.| founder = Kenji Kita Chikuhei Nakajima (predecessor)| foundation = FHI established July 7, 1953 first Subaru car introduced 1954| location = Ota, Gunma, Japan| key_people = Ikuo Mori, President and CEO Kenji Kita, founder of Subaru division| industry = Automobile manufacturing | num_employees = 11,998| products = Subaru automobiles, Toyota automobiles assembled under contract | revenue = 300,000,000 (JPY) (2007)| homepage = www.subaru-global.com }} is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (FHI). Subaru is known for their use of boxer engines in most of their vehicles. The company decided to utilize all wheel drive in most international markets as standard equipment in 1996. Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, is currently in a partnership with Toyota Motor Corporation, which owns 16.5% of FHI. The company is named after the star cluster Pleiades; in Japanese the name is "Subaru", which roughly translated into English means, "to govern", "unite," or "gather together". The company logo is influenced by the star cluster. The large star in the logo represents Fuji Heavy Industries, and the five smaller stars represent the current five companies that are united under the FHI group. In Japan, the company also goes by the name Mutsuraboshi ("Six Stars"), under which title it appears frequently in very old Japanese documents such as Kojiki and Man'yōshū and literature such as Makura no Sōshi. Origins of Subaru name History FHI started out as "The Aircraft Research Laboratory" in 1917 headed by Chikuhei Nakajima. In 1931, the company was reorganized as "Nakajima Aircraft Company, Ltd", the main airplane manufacturer for Japan in WWII. At the end of the Second World War, Nakajima Aircraft was again reorganized, this time as Fuji Sangyo Co, Ltd. In 1946, Fuji Sangyo created the Fuji Rabbit motor scooter with spare aircraft parts from the war. http://www.fujirabbit.com/pages/frame_history.htmlIn 1950, Fuji Sangyo was divided into 12 smaller corporations according to the Japanese Government's 1950 Corporate Credit Rearrangement Act (anti-zaibatsu legislation), but between 1953-1955, four of these corporations and a newly formed corporation, known as Fuji Kogyo (a scooter manufacturer}, Fuji Jidosha (a coachbuilder specializing in bus manufacture), Omiya Fuji Kogyo (an engine manufacurer), Utsunomiya Sharyo (a chassis manufacturer) and Tokyo Fuji Dangyo (a trading company), decided to merge together to form the Fuji Heavy Industries we know today. Kenji Kita, the CEO of Fuji Heavy Industries at the time, wanted the new company to be involved in car manufacturing, and chose the name Subaru to grace its first car, the Subaru P1 in 1954. Mr. Kita canvassed the Company for suggestions about naming the P-1, but none of the proposals was appealing. In the end, Mr. Kita gave the car a Japanese name that had been his personal favorite from childhood --- Subaru. Inspiration of naming first Subaru vehicle From 1954 to 2005, the company designed and manufactured dozens of vehicles including the P1 (1954), the tiny air-cooled 360 (1958), the Sambar (1961), the 1000 (1965), the R2 (1969), the Leone (1971), the Domingo (1983), the Alcyone (1985), the Legacy (1989), the Impreza (1993), the Sambar EV electric van (1995), the Forester (1997), and the Tribeca (2005). Major shareholders On October 5, 2005 Toyota Motor Corporation purchased 8.7% of FHI shares in 1999 from General Motors who had owned 20.1% of FHI. GM later divested its remaining 11.4% stake, selling its shares on the open market to sever all ties with FHI. FHI previously stated that there might have been 27 million shares (3.4%) acquired before the start of trading by an unknown party on October 6, 2005, and speculation suggested that a bank or perhaps another automaker was involved. After the purchase, Toyota announced a contract with Subaru on March 13, 2006 to use the underutilized Subaru manufacturing facility in Lafayette, Indiana, and Toyota announced plans to hire up to 1,000 workers and set aside an assembly line for the Camry model, beginning in spring 2007. On April 10, 2008, Toyota approximately doubled its stake in FHI to 16.5%, and announced that Toyota and Subaru are working on a 2-door coupe together, to be released around 2011. Before GM's ownership, Nissan had acquired the 20% stake in 1968 during a period of government-ordered merging of Japanese auto industry to merge in order for improved competitiveness under the administration of Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. Nissan would utilize FHI's bus manufacturing capability and expertise for their Nissan Diesel line of buses. In turn, many Subaru vehicles, even today, use parts from the Nissan manufacturing keiretsu. The Subaru automatic transmission, known as the 4EAT, is also used in the first generation Nissan Pathfinder. Speculation has suggested that it was Subaru that introduced Renault to Nissan, when Nissan asked for assistance in all-wheel drive (AWD) technology, and when FHI might have suggested that Renault discuss their plans with Nissan, the discussions may have been a contributing factor to the currently successful Renault-Nissan alliance. Upon Nissan's acquisition by Renault, its 20% stake was sold to General Motors. During the General Motors period, a modified Impreza was sold in the United States as the Saab 9-2X. A SUV (Subaru Tribeca / SAAB 9-6X) was also planned but the SAAB version did not proceed. Marketing efforts In the 1970's, the company moved away from small commercial vehicles and concentrated on the development of mainstream passenger car models, and when Subaru introduced the Legacy in 1989, it was well received. The Legacy was considered mainstream in its appearance and a departure from previous vehicles, which had earned a reputation of being "quirky". It was perceived by some as Subaru's attempt to compete with new luxury brands Lexus, Infiniti and Acura, as Japanese vehicles were increasing in popularity, particularly in the USA. Subaru continued their new direction with the controversially styled six-cylinder SVX (1992), and the Impreza (1993). From 1995 to 2000, Subaru ran a series of advertisements for the newly developed Subaru Outback which starred Paul Hogan. The advertisements were intended to highlight Subaru's all wheel drive, and depicted the Outback in a number of rugged Australian locations. The tagline "the world's first sport utility wagon" was successfully used by Subaru, though the AMC Eagle had tried much the same idea, with less success in the 1980s. Some of the advertising slogans Subaru has used in the past include, "Inexpensive, and built to stay that way", "The World's Favorite Four Wheel Drive" (in the U.K.), "We're building our reputation by building a better car", "The beauty of all-wheel-drive", "Think, Feel, Drive", and currently "It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru". As a result of this refocused advertising campaign, Subaru products began to attract a following among the young and educated, and as a lightweight, affordable, economical SUV alternative to the likes of the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wagoneer or the exclusive Volvo. Subaru has historically been popular in US regions such as the Pacific Northwest , the North American Rocky Mountains region, and especially in New England, with relatively high resale values and owner loyalty rates in those regions. However, facing pressure from competition from the large Japanese brands, Subaru began to market only AWD cars and wagons for the American market. The Subaru Outback wagon, based on the Legacy and modified with SUV-like stance, bumpers, and roof, became one of the best selling wagons in the US during the 2000s. Motorsports Modified versions of the Impreza WRX and WRX STi have been competing successfully in car rallies; drivers Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg have won World Rally Championship titles with the Subaru World Rally Team. The Subaru World Rally Championship cars are prepared and run by Prodrive, the highly successful British Motorsport team. Several endurance records were set in the early and mid-nineties by the Legacy. For the 1990 Formula 1 season, Subaru fielded the Subaru Coloni C3B. It featured a 12 cylinder boxer engine, but was not competitive because of horsepower and weight disadvantagesSubaru Performance magazine version 4.3. With the rise of rally racing, and the Import scene in the US, the introduction of the highly anticipated Subaru Impreza WRX in 2001 was successful in bringing high performance, AWD compact cars into the sports car mainstream. Diesel Subaru displayed a variable vane, common rail turbodiesel boxer engine at the 2007 Frankfurt International Motor Show. It is the world's first production horizontally-opposed water-cooled diesel engine. Volkswagen made only 2 air-cooled boxer prototype diesel engines that were not turbocharged, and installed one engine in a Type 1 and another in a Type 2. The Subaru engine is rated at 110 kW (147 hp) and 350 Nm (258 ft lb) with a displacement of only 2.0 liters. In March 2008, Subaru will offer the Legacy wagon with the 2.0 liter turbodiesel in the UK with a 5 speed manual transmission only. EPA fuel economy estimated is: City Ranges Highway Ranges According to the Subaru Owners on-line newsletter dated March 2008, Subaru is "currently making modifications to the diesel so it meets the more stringent U.S. standards. Subaru diesel models should be domestically available in two to three years." Environmental record Subaru claims to have implemented advanced policies which include recycling, reducing harmful emissions, educating their employees, and continuing their efforts have helped them in their environmental initiatives. When you carry out your trash at home on the next collection day, you'll be sending more trash to landfills than the entire Subaru manufacturing plant in Lafayette, Indiana (SIA). The Subaru plant was the first auto assembly plant to achieve zero landfill status - nothing from its manufacturing efforts goes into a landfill. It's all reused and recycled. This a significant step in the car manufacturing business and plans to have the vehicles they sell in each state meet the standards of California and New York. The company has also developed energy efficient hybrid vehicles as well as a recycling plan for their "end-of-life" cars. An excerpt from the Subaru website stated "In 2006, SIA was awarded the U.S. EPA's Gold Achievement Award as a top achiever in the agency's WasteWise program to reduce waste and improve recycling." The website also went on to claim, "It also became the first U.S. automotive assembly plant to be designated a wildlife habitat. Deer, coyotes, beavers, blue herons, geese, and other animals live there in peaceful coexistence with the Subaru plant" Subaru also offers Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV) certified Legacy, Outback, and Forester models which are available for sale anywhere in the U.S. Subaru PZEV vehicles meet California's Super-Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle exhaust emission standard.http://www.subaru.com/sub/misc/environment/index.html?from=topNav Subaru PZEV vehicles have 90% cleaner emissions than the average new vehicle.Subaru PZEV vehicles achieve such tight pollution controls, and the burning of fuel is so complete that in very smoggy urban areas, exhaust out of the tailpipe can actually be cleaner than the air outside.According to the EPA, Outback, Forester, and Legacy are among the cleanest and most fuel-efficient vehicles available in the U.S. based on air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and overall fuel economy.www.subaru.com This Manufactuer was used in the Toca Series. Vehicles. *Subaru Impreza WRX *Subaru Impreza N10 *Subaru Impreza N10 Group N *Subaru Impreza 22B Sti Version *Subaru Impreza 22B Sti Version Rallycross Car